A quartet of new releases bowed to disappointing results with many already pegged at a low bar. Best of the bunch was the epic adaptation of Cloud Atlas that ranked third with an estimated $9.4 million while the chill of the week, Silent Hill: Revelation, was two notches behind with $8 million. Debuting out of the top 10 were the kid-centric Fun Size with $3.9 million and the not too hip Chasing Mavericks roping in $2.2 million.

In the niches Indian imports introed the Hindi Chakravyuh with a gross of $117,000 at 88 venues and the Telugu Dhenikaina Ready generated $103,000 from 28 screens. The politically-themed The Other Son had an encouraging start of $127,000 from 41 playdates and 1978’s Halloween was briefly taken off the shelf, screened at 518 multis and added $162,000 to the jack o’lantern.

The clutch of exclusive newcomers had some OK starts but no single title demonstrated the sort of dynamism that would sustain beyond Thanksgiving.

Weekend revenues toted up to about $95 million and a 28% drop from last weekend. It was a more modest 10% decline from 2011 when the debuts of Puss in Boots and In Time bowed to $34.1 million and $12.1 million respectively.

There was some mention of inclement weather effecting box office and there were unquestionably pockets were Sandy diminished attendance. However the brunt of the blame had to be shouldered by incoming movies with limited commercial appeal and few holdovers able to break out of targeted niche interest.

David Mitchell’s novel Cloud Atlas was largely considered unfilmable with six narrative lines that spanned the historic past and advanced into the future. Whatever reservations one might have about the cinematic result served up by the Wachowski siblings and Tom Tykwer it certainly didn’t relate to clarity or structure. Though tracking was hardly robust pundits expected better, anticipating opening strength of $12 million to $15 million.

Critical response ranged from tepid to withering and audience sampling produced a less than inspired C grade from CinemaScore. The film skewed ever so slightly male with 51% and was decidedly older with 55% of the crowd 25-years and senior according to studio exit demos.

Silent Hill: Revelation arrived at the low end of tracking that ranged from $8 million to $10 million. What little audience showed up for the other newcomers amounted to a 67% female, 73% under 25% crowd for Fun Size and a 50/50 split, 59% 25-year and up viewship for Chasing Mavericks.

The big noise in the marketplace was further afield as 007’s Skyfall premiered in 25 territories with an estimated $77 million box office. The latest Bond has received sterling reviews and pumped up interest in the UK where it $32 million tally set records. Amereekans will have to wait until November 9.